Life has
meaning because it has direction. It has a goal. Most of us create meaning in
our lives by creating goals for ourselves such as family, wealth, artistic
achievement. But life has a goal that we don’t have to create, that is inherent
in its nature, in our nature. Our own personal life evolves towards a specific
destination that is sometimes called self‑realization, or enlightenment.
Just as our created goals are based on our desire for something, we also have a
fundamental desire for life’s inherent goal. It is this underlying desire for
enlightenment that often causes us to feel unfulfilled even after we have
achieved our created goals.
The word
“enlightenment” is often used in a general way to describe a variety of
experiences. In my definition, which is similar to that of most Eastern
religious teachings, enlightenment refers to a specific phase of human
maturity, a specific and unmistakable shift in the way one experiences life.
Although
enlightenment is the most concrete, actual experience of being alive,
describing it always sounds abstract, until you have experienced it yourself.
To understand
the relationship of enlightenment and self we need to clearly understand the
specific experiences that are meant by the words “enlightenment” and “self” The
following definitions are based on my own experience, the experience of friends
and students, and the definitions found in the spiritual texts of Buddhism and
Hinduism. The point I wish to emphasize is that the definitions offered here
are not solely from my subjective experience (for then they could certainly be
fantasy) and are also not solely the paraphrasing of long‑dead sages from
old books (for they might be naive or metaphorical). Rather, they are
descriptions that many people agree on, based on their own experience, that
support the validity of the ancient texts.
Realization of Fundamental Consciousness
Enlightenment is
the realization, the lived experience, that we are made of pure consciousness;
that pure consciousness is our fundamental nature and our ultimate reality; and
that everything else in the universe is also made of pure consciousness, so
that our own being is fundamentally unified with all of nature. As one
fourth-century Chinese sage put it, “Everything in the universe is one and the
same root as my own self.” In enlightenment, we experience life from the
vantage point of that root.
We experience
our own self as unbroken consciousness, pervading our body and our environment.
This means that there is a continuity between our inner and outer perception.
We have a sense of vast space, as if all our perceptions were one single
tapestry of reflections in a single mirror. We feel that we are made of clear,
empty space, finer than air, unbounded and motionless. Within this vast space
moves the changing progression of our thoughts, feelings, sensations, and
perceptions.
I call this
unbroken, pervasive dimension “fundamental consciousness.” Before realizing
fundamental consciousness, we identify ourselves as our sensations, feelings,
perceptions, ideas, memories. But upon realizing fundamental consciousness, we
recognize that these discrete, transitory experiences come and go within the
fundamental ground that is our true identity.
Consciousness
is our ultimate reality. In Hindu metaphysics, ultimate reality is called in
Sanskrit Brahman and described: “I am the supreme Brahman which
is pure consciousness, always clearly manifest, unborn, one only, imperishable,
unattached and all‑pervading and non‑dual.” Although this
description, from the ninth‑century Indian philosopher Shankara, may
sound exotic or abstract, every word is soberly meant as a description of the
fundamental reality of every human being. Reality is the opposite of abstract.
It is real [concrete].
In
enlightenment, we experience that we are becoming real; not something new, but
something we have always been yet only barely know. This is what Shankara means
by unborn: the unified, pervasive, pure consciousness has always been there,
pervading our every cell. It is the true, whole “I” that is our inherent,
fundamental nature, hidden behind the partial, fragmented, abstract “I”’s that
we tolerate before we know of our wholeness. We do not have to create reality;
it has always been there. But the ability to recognize reality is also inherent
in us. All our lives we have been guided by our ability to tell truth from
deception, harmony from disharmony. As we realize fundamental consciousness, we
recognize that our underlying reality has been the goal of our lifelong
navigation and desire.
Enlightenment
is an experience unlike any other we have had because there is no duality in
it. We do not have an experience of fundamental consciousness. Although the
limits of language make it necessary to use the preposition “of,” fundamental
consciousness is actually realizing itself. It is self‑reflecting. The
knower and the known are the same. Fundamental consciousness is our own
ordinary consciousness, but directly, purely experienced, without the usual
veils of habit, confusions, and defense. Enlightenment is the phase of human
maturity in which the mind comes to know itself.
Enlightenment
is much easier to experience than most people think. I’ve watched people stomp
angrily out of workshops because I was asking them to experience what revered
masters have experienced, as if the attempt were futile and even sacrilegious.
There is also
a tendency for us to impose the sense of sanctity that some of us were taught
in Judeo-Christian tradition onto these principles of enlightenment. Much of
Western religion teaches an attitude of reverence and humility towards a
distant god, an image of patriarchal authority that we can petition but never
truly know. Religious students are treated as children who can sit in the
protective, vigilant presence of God, but who have only the responsibility of
obedience. In the more ritualistic forms of Eastern religion, as well, there is
a hushed, hallowed quality when discussing the ultimate, and certainly there is
great respect shown for the spiritual masters.
But the more
advanced the teaching and the students become, the more the ultimate is presented
as something belonging to us, as a wonderful but entirely usual part of our own
nature that can be neither taken away nor given to us by any external presence.
I have found that many people who are ready for enlightenment are not achieving
it because they assume it is some far‑distant, exalted state. The work
that so many of us have been doing to become more real, more open to life, has
been leading towards the realization of our fundamental dimension of
consciousness. It is crucial to our personal growth that we recognize our
essential reality and demystify our understanding of enlightenment.
Another related misconception about enlightenment is that
it is an “altered” state of consciousness. Enlightenment often is confused with
the peak experiences that many people have, for example, while looking up at
the stars or witnessing the birth of a baby. But a peak experience is by
definition a momentary event, often accompanied by intense emotions such as awe
or ecstasy. Enlightenment is not a momentary alteration of consciousness that
one goes to and returns from. For this same reason, it also differs from the
state of being hypnotized and the trance state. Enlightenment is a clear, alert
perception of the present moment that represents a lasting refinement of
consciousness.
Some people do
have their first entry into enlightenment as a peak experience, a satori,
during which they are dazzled by the sudden shift into the unity of fundamental
consciousness. And some have had sudden deepenings of enlightenment as well, in
which they abruptly experience much more of the space of fundamental
consciousness than before. But enlightenment itself is not a temporary nor a
particularly charged emotional state. It is a lasting transformation of our
being, involving our ongoing relation to ourselves and our environment.
Sometimes
enlightenment is said to be instantaneous because there is a sharp difference
between being in the dimension of fundamental consciousness and being out of
it. Some people notice this difference suddenly, while others, once they do
notice it, feel they have been there for a while without registering or naming
it. One may lose the realization of fundamental consciousness and get it back
several times before it stabilizes. But once we do become stable in our
realization, we continue to live there, while our realization very gradually
matures and expands.
This means
that our experience of fundamental consciousness gradually pervades more of our
body, increasing our sense of inner depth and wholeness and opening new realms
of sensitivity and insight. Also, it gradually increases our sense of oneness
with other people, with nature, and with the cosmos. The most advanced
spiritual masters, those rare few who are completely enlightened, are said to
be omniscient and omnipresent. They have realized the entire ground of
fundamental consciousness pervading the whole universe.
One thing is
clear. We are not born enlightened. Children, although undefended, are not
experiencing the whole of the dimension of fundamental consciousness. There is
a vast difference between the openness and unguarded love of an infant and the
far-reaching clarity and intense but detached love of a spiritual master. As
adults, we must grow towards enlightenment as well as release the psychological
defenses that impede this growth. Although there is much literature on what
separates us from fundamental consciousness, the question of why we must work
to realize what has been there all along remains unanswered.
To become
enlightened is to move from a fragmented experience of life to a unified
experience. Before we become enlightened, our focus shifts from self to object,
or from one modality of experience to another. We may experience another person
quite fully but be only barely aware of ourselves. In another moment, we know
our own feelings but our perception of the outside world is diminished. Or we
may know our thoughts but not be conscious of our feelings or sensations.
When we become
enlightened, we realize the continuity, the unity, of inner and outer
consciousness without any shift of focus. This means there is no longer any
schism between subject and object or between thought, feeling, and sensation.
For example, at this moment, sitting at my typewriter, I am aware of the
objects around me (their form and texture), including the window in front of my
desk and the bit of earth and tree trunk I can see while looking down at my
work. I am aware of the sensation of being in my body, of the emotional content
of the moment (even though there is no particular emotional charge at the
moment, there is still an emotional tone that is always present), and of the
intensity of my mental activity. All these perceptions are unmistakably a
whole; they exist in a single unbounded space, and the space itself has a
luminous, vibrant quality. I and other become one whole in the one pervasive
field of fundamental consciousness.
This wholeness
of “I” and other does not negate the integrity of the individual wholeness of
each person or object. In fact, our individual boundaries are more defined in
the dimension of fundamental consciousness. Once we experience our own inner
life at the same time as we experience the outer world, it becomes very clear
where we leave off and the world begins.
The dimension
of fundamental consciousness never changes. When we realize this most subtle
dimension of ourselves, we experience a vast, unchanging stillness pervading
our body and our environment. We feel that we ourselves are fundamentally
timeless and changeless. Zen Buddhism expresses this with the phrase, “I have
never moved from the beginning.”
Once we are
secure in our realization of fundamental consciousness, we can open without
fear to our own energy and the energy around us. We are like an empty vessel.
Whatever is in the vessel is temporary and does not alter our fundamental
nature. No matter how powerful the movement of life becomes, it does not change
the absolute stillness of fundamental consciousness.
This is the
paradox of enlightenment. We receive the stimulation of our environment even
more fully than before we were enlightened. Because we have more access to the
depths of ourselves, we feel every joy and pain more deeply than before. But at
the same time, we experience ourselves as whole and steady, as the unchanging
ground of fundamental consciousness. One of my teachers once likened this state
to the biblical burning bush. “We burn,” he said, “but we are not consumed.”
Our emotional
pain is secondary to our fundamental nature. No matter what we lose or suffer
in our life, this core of our being, our true reality, cannot be damaged. It
has not moved from the beginning, and it will never move. Thus, as we become
enlightened, it is easier to be at peace with even the worst of circumstances.
We can allow ourselves to mourn or rage, to risk new relationships and
situations, because we know that our fundamental nature will not be affected.
In summary,
enlightenment is the realization of one’s own nature as ultimate reality. It is
a radical shift from the fragmentation of subject‑object duality to the
unity of our fundamental dimension of pure consciousness. This fundamental
dimension is experienced as vast, clear, unbreakable, unbounded space,
pervading both our body and our environment. Once we realize fundamental
consciousness, our realization continues to deepen and expand throughout our
lifetime. When we become enlightened, our own mind is continuous with the
consciousness that is the basis of all existence, which has been its true
nature all along. Our dimension of fundamental consciousness is always with us,
at the root of our self and the universe, and all are capable of realizing it.
Judith Blackstone
is co-director of the Realization
Center in Woodstock, New York.
From Finding
A Way: Essays on Spiritual Practice © 1996 by Lorette Zirker.
Reprinted in The
Inner Directions Journal, Winter
1997.